Global Validation: Securing WHO Herbal Research Funding (1975)

While Western pharma dismissed indigenous knowledge, Dr. Muzaffar saw Pakistan’s botanical heritage as untapped gold. His relentless advocacy won WHO Project PAK/HEP/002 – Pakistan’s first international research grant for herbal medicine, validating centuries of South Asian healing wisdom through modern science.

The Research That Rewrote Rules
 Methodology Revolution

• Documented 137 anti-diabetic plants using WHO’s GACP guidelines

• Created first standardized extracts of Gurmar (Gymnema sylvestre) and Karela (Momordica charantia)

• Partnered with 42 hakims (traditional healers) for ethnobotanical validation

   Transformative Outcomes

  Discovery	Application
  Neem-based Antimicrobial	Became basis for Pakistan’s first WHO-prequalified herbal formulation (1982)
  Cost-Effective Insulin Adjuvant	Reduced diabetes treatment costs by 63% for rural patients
  Digital Herbarium	Preserved 2,300+ specimens now accessible via PU’s online archive